K Chandrasekhar Rao pulled votes like 'Indira Gandhi' and 'N T Rama Rao'

Hyderabad: Whether rural or urban, whether Congress bastion or any other, it made no difference to the Telangana Rashtra Samiti as people across the state voted for it and rejected the Congress-led People’s Front in the just concluded Assembly elections.

K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s image, the welfare schemes he initiated and the sense of self-respect he imbued, seem to have convinced voters to continue with the TRS.

The entry of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in alliance with the arch rival of the TRS, the Congress, turned the elections into a match between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, and KCR vs Naidu and this was to KCR and his party’s advantage.

The Congress had predicted that the massive voter turnout would go against the TRS but the results have shown that it was in fact a positive vote for the TRS.

The Congress-led People’s Front had high hopes of doing well in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts, but here too the TRS won a majority of seats. Nalgonda and Mahabubnagar districts, supposed to be the strongholds of the Congress, were also swept up in the TRS wave this time.

The alliance was unable to give the TRS a really tough fight in any seat. It was Mr K. Chandrasekhar Rao who really pulled in the votes for his state. He has shown that after Indira Gandhi and N.T. Rama Rao, he is the only leader who can win for his party single-handed as people have a negative opinion of a majority of TRS candidates. This was seen during the election campaign when some villages did not allow candidates to enter.

People across the state said that they were unhappy with their TRS candidates but they wanted KCR and the TRS back in power.

Minister K.T Rama Rao in an interview to this newspaper during the campaigning admitted: “It is true some candidates have a negative image with the public, but KCR's image will overshadow that.”